♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ imus in the morning ♪ >> the gun industry, in full

retreat on all fronts. good morning, everyone, a leading internet gun seller suspends all sales. the california teachers pension fund thinks about getting out of gun stops. the bush master gun maker has been put up for sale. and friday marked a sea change. richard trumka has taxes and spending. a dead ringer for big labor's plans delivered to the white house. facebook makes a pr push, mark zuckerberg, a half billion to charity and you are getting out of general motors and you lost. wednesday, december 19th, "varney & company" about to begin.

>> good morning, everyone, general motors, it's about you the taxpayer. you are getting out. and they will sell 300 shares by a pre-arranged written trading agreement. don't know the price.

plus, gm will buy 200 million shares from the treasury, that means is taxpayer loss is being locked in. how much? we're not sure. taxpayers, by the way, put in 49 1/2 billion into general motors. the bid-ask shows gm up today. now, the gun industry, that's feeling the impact of last week's shooting in connecticut. cheaper than dirt one of the biggest on-line retailer has stopped selling firearms and we asked why. a statement from the company. cheaper than dirt, temporarily suspended sales of firearms and continue to promote the safe and responsible firearms by law abiding citizens. during the suspension we'll review. and may get rid of a stake in gun manufacturers, 8 million dollars of stern ruger and 2

million smith & wesson. yesterday, smith & wesson had a drop. the group that made the bush master used in the shooting. the president of cerberus, his father lives in newtown, connecticut on friday, this coming friday, the n.r.a. says it will hold a news conference to provide, quote, meaningful contributions to the gun debate. big reaction to the gun industry. and then there's this. richard trumka and organized llbor may get their way on taxes, spending and debt. and the fiscal cliff deal that's now shaping up looks a lot like the trumka plan. we will bring you that, the opening bell and facebook stock and general motors in the news, all of it after this. [ malennouncer ] this is steve. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest,t, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the marke he goes with people he trusts,

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get protected now. call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock protection risk fe for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! >> wednesday morning, we're coming off two back-to-back triple digit gains for the dow industrials and we're expecting another modest gain in the opening bell this morning. in the news background, 12% decline in mortgage applications that's interesting. i would have said the best investment is a single family home. apparently first time buyers are not involved. mortgage applications down 12 percent and we've got a 3% in housing starts and none of that is affecting the market which is

looking toward some kind of deal on a fiscal cliff problem. so, the dow industrials have indeed opened a little bit higher, remember, we're back-to-back, 100 point gains. 13,353 is where the dow stands right now this thursday morning. we've got facebook's chief mark zuckerberg, donated 18 million of the shares in his company. to the nonprofit charity, works in education and health. and donation is worth about a half billion dollars. sound like a good pr move. there's a related story with facebook's own instagram. new terms of use for the photo service instagram released yesterday would allow the company to sell photos that users post to the internet. outrage from the users. but instagram now says it would not sell the photos or use them in advertising. so, lauren simonetti down on the floor, facebook stock, where is it? >> it's up, believe it or not, at 27.94. up about .9% and they lost got a

price target upgrade to $33 at cantor fitzgerald so that's helping out a little bit and then twitters sphere, stuart was angry about that instagram move, khloe kardashian, i know you follow that-- >> and they were angry about it and lauren. general motors a moment ago, the treasury is going to stel the 500 million shares that we, the taxpayer, still own. some will be sold at $27.50. we don't get all of our money back, how big a loss we're going to take is not known at this time, but the taxpayer is going to take a loss. look at gm, up nearly 8%, 27.52 right now. we're continuing to follow the big drop in gas prices and that's good news for you. the national average down to 3.22 a gallon. these are triple-a figures.

that's a drop of 19 cents in just the past month. it is the lowest, well, let's look at the lowest price in the nation, that's-- i repeat, 2.96 a gallon and that state has company in the two handle club. oklahoma state average is down to 2.99. there are several other states hovering right at the $3 level. how about that? afl-cio chief richard trumka, remember, he visited president obama in the white house after his reelection. at that time, he said, america should tax the rich, promise spending cuts way down the road and ignore the national debt. that was a trumka plan and that's exactly the kind of deal that's shaping up in washington right now on the fiscal cliff. joining us, kirsten powers, this is upon, i say this is a lousy deal. may be good politics, but for the economy it's bad news. so, kirsten, moderate democrat, i know what you are. should we take this lousy deal

or should we just go over the cliff? what do you say? >> well, i think going over the cliff would be very bad because it would send a message that, i mean, the truth, honestly, that we have a completely dysfunctional system and the markets would probably not react well and we may see a credit downgrade and so that's not an ideal situation. and that said, i agree with you, it's a lousy deal. and the idea that they're just going to sort of kick the can down the road and have the frame work and deal with it later which means we know they'll never deal with it, it's a problem. >> my problem is that the administration, in fact, nobody's really suggesting concrete cuts in a-- or reform, i should say to entitlement programs, and it's busti busting our budget wide open and creating this massive debt. nobody is going to deal with it. and i know you're a moderate democrat, you've got to admit

the president under no circumstances will attempt to reform entitlement period. >> i don't know for sure he won't touch it, but i'm inclined to say you're probably right. the reason i say that, talk to most liberals influencing the president they don't want to touch it. they don't want to touch social security, they don't want to touch medicare, they actually believe it's not contracting that much to the debt. it's kind after alternate reality and that's where the president's coming from and of course, you know, most people don't want to touch it because it's bad politically, not a big constituency saying cut my benefit. stuart: can you get elected in america today saying no to people who want money? i don't think you can, i really don't. >> yeah, i think that's why would take both parties coming together and basically sort of jumping off this together. and saying, we're all going to take the hit. we're going to agree on this. we're not going to try to pin it

on the the other party and what you see, is both sides do it, they both try to hold back and won't be very specific. even john boehner has really not been that specific when he talks about cuts, they claim they want to cut entitlements, but they're not that specific. stuart: forgive me, but i keep saying it, you know what i'm going to say, you are-- >> i'm-- >> you're drifting towards the center. >> this is just common sense. it's just common sense, isn't it. stuart: yes of course it is. >> i don't feel that this is a democrat or republican issue, it's just common sense. stuart: are you disappointed with this president? >> yes, of course. stuart: you are? >> well, i think i'm going to give him a chance in the new year, you know, they claim they're setting up this frame work where they're going to deal with this, but if he doesn't, then that's a real problem that you cannot just keep letting this-- look, you cannot talk about the deficit. as you said, without talking about entitlements and frankly, defense spending. that's two-thirds of our budget.

so-- >> i don't believe that this president will cut spending in any significant way. i don't believe that this president will reform entitlements at all, period. do you agree with na. >> i hope you're wrong. stuart: i think you agree with me, don't you? >> you know, i'm an optimist, so, i'm going to hold out hope that something is going to be done that there's not going to be, look, i mean, he's cut spending in different ways, and it's always around the margins and i think that, you know, to take on the big issues defense spending and entitlements, i'm going to remain hopeful. stuart: okay. kirsten, it's astonishing how much you and i agree on things. it's great to have you on the show and appreciate it. >> thank you, kirsten. >> fox news confirms that dr. roger h.b.bork has died.

and the treasury department is asking if some green companies were fudging the numbers to squeeze more money out of you, that's at the top of the hour. and now as always we say time is money. here is what we've got for you. ronald reagan shot and assistant james brady seriously injured, paralyzed due to his injuries. brady went on to become a gun control advocate. we'll discuss that with mike reagan, ronald reagan's son. >> sioux falls has an unemployment rate 3.7% and it's not a result of the energy boom. we're going to talk to that city's mayor. a trooper retires with a pension of $175,000 a year thanks to

unused sick days. will union defender phil diane support that? he'll be with us. e-mail us right now, and at varney@foxbusiness.com. and we'll start with oracle, the software company, profits up, selling more software and yes, the stock is up a buck. not a bad gain for oracle. general mills makes cereals like lucky charms, sales in the last 13 week period, virtually unchanged for the company's stock. fedex, disappointing forecast, took a hit because of sandy, the storm. none of less up two bucks higher. plx technology, the sec is trying to block the proposed takeover. and say the deal would create a near monopoly for circuits, and not a clue what they do. delphi automotive, added to the

s&p 500, good news for the stock because the fund managers now have to buy it. and this company went into bankruptcy protection and emerged in '09 and because of the u.k. it's up. health net enrollment for health plans in corporations next year, it's down. pfizer cutting 600 jobs and 20% of the sales force that is. sales for lipitor have declined since the exclusive patent expired last year. and no change with the stock virtually, and the dow is up four, dead flat. got to say it again, president obama's put social security cost of living increase on the table, it means less money for senior citizens, less of an increase coming up. that's next. ♪ grandma got run over by a reindeer ♪ >> i'm not sure of the music, but the sentiment warren hardy, we need to have less government in business and more business in government. up the music.

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>> i'm not going to say it, okay? i'm not going to say it's a dead flat market yet again, that's what it is. virtually no change. look at the price of oil. yes, around $88 per barrel. that's up a bit in recent days even though gas prices keep coming down. we have president obama, he wants to change the way that the social security cost of living adjustment is calculatee. it would mean a smaller annual increase for recipients. joining us now, james market of the 60-plus association. that's the conservative alternative to the aarp. and very well on this program,

mr. martin, welcome back. >> thanks, glad to be with you. >> what do you think of the change in the way that the social security cost of living is adjusted every year? what do you make of it? >> well, now, they're tweaking social security and they're taking it out of pockets of seniors again. why don't they fix it for the long-term instead of tweaking it. the cola, there wasn't a cola for a couple of years and 1.7% for next year, under this change that they're proposing, it will be lower. we think that seniors should not be paying the price for the malfeasance of the government's overspending through all these years. stuart: that's a fair point, sir. in-- as opposed to a cola change, do you just want to see a higher retirement age? would you go for that? >> well, there's already a higher retirement age. >> now what i mean, we are living longer.

surely you can get behind a change in the retirement age some years down the road? can you do that? >> stuart, i oppose that on principle. they ought to fix social security and medicare for the long haul instead of tinkering with it and raising the retirement age. >> does that mean a tax increase, james, is that how you fix it? >> no, the fact of the matter is, you go to the private markets. look, social security was demagogued by the democrats for 50 years when i came here as a reporter some 50 years ago. goldwater was handed his head when he mentioned social security structural refarm and now it's med-scare if you will. and democrats say they may go along with the president on the changed cpi cola proposal. they promised they would not change social security.

and they paid lip service and seniors are tired of it and paying for 50-some years. and let me headacmake this poin if senioo citizens voted overwhelmingly against president obama and why they ought to stop and think about whether it's taxes on seniors, there are huge taxes coming january the 1st. mainly on senior citizens attacks on medical devices, a tax on dividends, tax on capital gains, tax on medicare itself. there's a tax on dying, tax on our estates and tax on dying and imposed to finance world war i which i think has been over a few years. stuart: so don't raise taxes. don't extend the retirement age on social security, no, you want to privatize it, let the markets work to accumulate late more money for seniors in retirement, that's it, that's what you want? >> the truth of the matter is, i want to personalize it. allow, allow folks to have some

personal controls over their financial destiny. stuart: president bush supported it and said, yes, let's do this. the plan never came up for a vote. he got no support, actually none against democrats and little against republicans. it's not going to happen. >> the truth of the matter is, aarp, association against retired persons spent demagoguing that scaring seniors and talking about as a risky return. the risk on the return is if you don't do something about social security for the long haul. look, stuart, the problem in washington is not taxes it's overspending. stuart: it is. >> we call 7-eleven syndrome. and president gets $7 to spends and spends $11. stuart: that's a good line, i'm going to steal it off you. james martin, 60-plus. thank you for joining us. >> feel free to use it, thank you. stuart: i will. where is the price of gold this

morning? it's down a bit. significantly below $1700 an ounce and took a big drop yesterday and it's down another 2 bucks now, 1668. will that make the gold coin presence cheaper this year? a substitute teacher in california finds out she has a long lost cousin, a cousin who hoarded wheel bar rows full of gold and now she's an instant millionaire. and find out why. they're here next. ♪ we're in the money ♪

>> listen to this. 7.4 million dollars worth of gold coins found in the home in a man in carson city, nevada. they discovered the treasure after he died. they searched for a relative and lo and behold a cousin that will inherit the coins and it occurs the first 'cause will have is to pay estate tax of a million and a half. she gets 5 million tax free. thankfully the gentleman died this year and not next year.

>> after january 1st, y have estate taxes kicking in 50% level for a lot less and people are kind of managing their deaths now, this is how pathetic our tax code has gotten. every once in a while you hear the stories of unassuming quiet person who dies and leaves a fortune in the mattress. i just hope that i'm one of the lucky ones some day. stuart: i'm going to tell you a quick story after fella i knew 20 years ago, inherited from a long lost awningcle, 300 shares in a company called berkshire mills, ring a bell? >> yes. >> a precursor of berkshire hathaway and turned berkshire mills, a shell company, and turned that into berkshire hathaway, when this guy discovered that he got 300 shares, he didn't know what the company was. but at the time, those stairs were worth $186,000 each. and he serendipitously got 300 of them. how about that? >> why can't this happen to me? i have a lot of relatives and no

reason why i couldn't have a situation like this arise. doesn't have to be coins, i'm not picky, it can be anything you want. i'm flexible. >> like an initial share of coca-cola, something like that. >> exactly. >> fantastic. stuart: it's a pity the gentleman with the gold coins didn't dye, what was it 2011 no estate tax. >> estate tax is detrimental, it's crazy. >> jedia, you can't time your death. >> can't do it. stuart: look we've been having a debate the best part of the week now, three high powered strongly opinionated women are going to weigh in on whether more women in the senate means more compromise, and civility. one of the new at ten stories, and more green energy shakedowns. solar companies possibly fudging the numbers to possibly get more stimulus money? it's all next.

stuart: new at 10:00 the gun industry in retreat with a shift in the national mindset and women could be the ones to lead the charge on gun control. record number of women in the senate and one of them dianne feinstein introduced the previous ban on assault weapons and may reintroduce it. also new at 10:00, solar companies being investigateddfor possibly fudging their numbers to get more stimulus money.

that's your tax dollars at work, and we are on it. to the big board, we're down 19 points in the early going this wednesday morning. here's our company: conservative commentator is with us. fox news contributor monica crowley isshere. and lauren simonetti is on the floor of the new york stock exchange. smith and wesson, a gun stock obviously. down big yesterday. lauren, the stock right now, please? >> it is up about 5% right now. at $8.17. but if you look at the stock over the past week, it is down considerably. this is a stock that was trading right near $11 in early december and late november. for the year, it's nearly doubled, up 88%, but all of this backlash and what happened on friday in connecticut is really hitting the stock. stuart: i think the chart tells the story right there, it is in retreat as are many many gun

stocks. lauren simonetti thank you very much indeed. we have a record number of women who will be taking the place in senate next year, 20 all told, and at least one of them will be leading the push for gun control. dianne feinstein democrat from california she says she will look to reinstate the expired ban on assault weapons. all right, everyone, my premise is that this record number of women in the senate will lead the charge on gun control. they are right out front pushing for this. and you say what? >> it may very well be, particularly given the context of this latest shooting because it took place in an elementary school. you had 20 dead children. so it may very well be that the women in the senate and you may look to some women in the house too to support additional gun control legislation. that's setting aside whether or not that is the correct path, which i think we would probably agree on this panel -- [inaudible] -- but having the additional presence of so many liberal women in particular, we do have conservative women in

the senate, who would probably resist this sort of thing, but so many left wing women, i think you are right, stuart, i think you will see them pushing on this. stuart: i think this is one change that will come to the senate in respect to gun control. >> women tend to have that maternal protective gene, they want to protect society in cases like this particularly when children are involved. i think this recent occurrence pushed a lot of women moving toward gun control. women should be some of the fiercest protectors of the 2nd amendment because it helps you to protect yourself against men and other people who are twice your size often times. stuart: you're right. there is another side to this debate, and that is that women increasingly are buying firearms. >> yes. stuart: they are the fastest-growing market share, i believe, in the weapons industry, so to speak. so does that run counter to the idea of women leading the charge on gun control? >> it's interesting because i think there's a real dichotomy between women who are interested

in protecting their lives and the lives of their children and the self-defense and the more liberal women. the more liberal women are coming into the senate. >> it also has to do with some of the language. when you refer to something as assault weapon, it's political language, it is to scare people, i think it hits women a little harder, when you see pictures of this machinery, i think it hits women's sensibility, going into the maternal instinct and protective instinct. i think the terminology is part of the problem as opposed to the gun control policy. stuart: fair point. i'm going to stay with this issue. i'm going to switch now to female senators. we want to get back to the debate that we have been having in this program and it is in the national media too, about whether having 20 women in the

senate is going to make the senate better perhaps bringing in more compromise. here's a quote from the washington post article, which started this whole debate, here's the quote, some are wondering whether the record breaking number of women will mean less gridlock not more in the chamber. women are more collaborative and collegial leaders, studies have found. joining us is the executive director of the independent women's forum. sabrina, welcome to the program. i take it you agree with this, that women bring civility to the political debate and you therefore think that 20 is a good number and it's going to make a change to the senate? go. >> well, not exactly. i mean i realize that 16 of the 20 women in the senate now are democrats, so the reality is this may actually lead to more consensus, less compromise, and more partisanship in the end. what i do agree with is that the genders are different, that men and women have different talents, different interests, and that they bring different things to the table. there have been studies that

show for instance that women come to meetings more prepared and that raises the bar and leads to men coming more prepared, that women have more of a discussion in meetings rather than power point presentations which i guess men tend toward. i think there's sort of big picture, yes, women may bring something different to the table, but when we look at the specifics of who these women are in the senate and we see they are overwhelmingly democratic, i don't think we're going to see a tremendous shift in the political body. stuart: so you accept a gender difference. there is indeed a gender difference. women are more collegial. women are more civil. they are more likely to compromise. you definitely agree with that. if you do, may i introduce you to margaret thatcher? >> yeah, i certainly don't think that women across the board are all the same, nor do i this i that all women -- nor do i think that all women voters want women who care about so-called women's issues. i think that's where this conversation can really stray. i mean the reality is i would rather have a man or a purple monster represent me if they had the values, you know, economic

liberty and limited government and personal responsibility, if that were the policy prescriptions, and one thing to think about in 2010, during the year the republican women, i don't remember hearing this conversation, do you, about, you know, what women could do? stuart: you are on the conservative side of the aisle, by the sound of it, you are? >> yes. stuart: i didn't know that. i thought you were a liberal. sorry. >> no, no, i'm sorry for the confusion. stuart: so let me ask -- there's two women sitting right here on the company. i want to ask them a very similar question. do you think there are gender differences and that women are indeed more collegial, collaborative and civil? >> i think if we were to make a sweeping generalization, that is probably true. i think generally speaking, women have different styles in approaching conflict and approaching negotiation. that doesn't mean all women. we don't include margaret thatcher in that. women who rise to the top levels

of leadership actually tend to have more male styles of approaching conflict -- >> that's right. stuart: hold n a minute ladies if i may put it like that. i've been taught throughout my adult life that you are not allowed to ascribe certain characteristics to certain groups of people. you are not allowed -- it would be sexist to say women are more civil than men, more collegial, more collaborative. >> it's not. we have been righting a lot about this controversy over the easy bake oven. girls and boys are different. women and men are different. that doesn't mean we're not equal or that we can't -- stuart: hold on, what controversy about the easy bake oven? >> that is marketed you know strictly to women or to girls and not to boys, and there's been, you know, sort of a protest over this and now the easy bake oven is coming out with a gender neutral easy bake oven. stuart: was it sexist to market

it to girls? >> absolutely not. look, you can give a boy a doll, it doesn't mean he's going to play with it. the reality is the genders are different. that doesn't mean we're not equal. but we do have different strengths andal talents -- and talents that we're able to bring to the table. what are the policy prescriptions that women like senator feinstein are going to bring to the table and i have a feeling i won't agree with them? stuart: i think we're in agreement with them. essentially women may be more collegial and civil and they may compromise, but that doesn't mean to say we're going to end up with a good policy, does it? >> not at all. stuart: the women i know tend to dig their high heels in pretty deep when they care about an issue. -- >> the women i know tend to dig their high heels when they care about an issue. when they care about an issue, they will fight. stuart: if i were to say women dig in their high heels, i'm out

of here. >> i would be calling for the conservative women to do exactly that, to dig in the high heels. stuart: but if i said that -- i can't do that. >> that's true. it's been said you can't say that but i can. that's one of the fundamental problems in our society. stuart: sabrina, women digging in their high heels, can i say that? >> i think so. i hope i'm digging in my high platforms today. >> we all are. stuart: excellent debate. sabrina, thank you very much for joining us. we do appreciate it. ladies, good stuff. now, something more serious here. in march 1981, john hinkley attempted to assassinate president ronald reagan. it doesn't stop the ronald reagan to stop supporting the 2nd amendment. later this hour, mike reagan will talk to us about his dad's stance on 2nd amendment. he will be here at 10:35 this morning. federal investigators issued

subpoenas to several major solar panel companies. they want to know if the companies overcharged for work to get federal stimulus money. this comes after solyndra, the solar company that declared bankruptcy last year after getting about a half billion dollars in your taxpayer money. monica, what do you make of this? >> incredible. here we go again. every time i appear on the show, we seem to be covering the same green energy scandal. yeah, and the real scandal here is we've had billions of dollars in taxpayer money being poured into these companies, all for not. most of those companies have gone bust. others are faltering, and still the administration pursues this. the reason it is not so much green energy per se. this is all part of is a broader strategy, stuart, of radical wealth redistribution, and they are doing it in the energy sector as they are doing it in the banking sector and the healthcare sector, and so many other sectors of this economy. being brought down from a free market model and transferred to socialist model.

that's what all these solar companies are about. it's about the huge transfer of taxpayer money into the green companies. stuart: you are using strong language. >> absolutely, that's what this is all about. healthcare was never about healthcare. it was about radical wealth redistribution. it is the same thing when you get into the energy sector, the banking sector. look, even gun control which we have been talking about here, it is not about gun control, it is about transferring power to the government. that's what this is as well. and what's being said is these companies were receiving cash payments worth about 30% of the cost of a project, whatever project it was. they basically could have had incentives to raise these costs and let's face it, this is taxpayer money. whenever taxpayer money is being discussed, i feel like everything needs to be investigated, and we need to have answers because people are unemployed, they are out of work and struggling, they can't afford to fund these projects that would never survive in the free market on their own. stuart: that's how government works.

it says okay, we will fund your project, we will fund the cost of your project because we think it is socially advisable to do that so the people behind the project up the cost to get more money from the government. >> but they are funding stuff that on its own would never ree market, it makes absolutely no sense. >> it does make sense if you are a socialist trying to transform the u.s. economy away from a free market system towards a socialist one that's government directed. stuart: i have a windmill -- there's a farm i have got in new zealand. we built a windmill at the cost of 33,000 u.s. dollars. now, i provided the money for that thing. that's free capital. it will still take 15 years to get the money back, with free capital. had we borrowed that money, the prevailing rate of interest in new zealand, which is about 6 1/2, 7 1/2 percent, it would be 30 years to get our money back out of it, by which time the thing would have broken down, and i would have to replace it. it doesn't make economic sense. >> it doesn't, but as monica said, it does make sense if you are trying to transform the

system at large. >> transform the economy, yeah. stuart: all right, ladies, you made your point. fedex, it is an economic indicator. they were out with numbers today. lauren, what's going on? >> the stock is up even though profit missed expectations by 2 cents, but a 3% pop for fedex now. superstorm sandy definitely affected the shipper's earnings in the quarter that just wrapped up. and another thing we should note, the more expensive shipping optionings, there's not a lot of demand out there for them -- shipping options, there's not a lot of demand out there for them. people are finding cheaper ways to get their mail there. stuart: fedex ground doesn't necessarily overnight immediately, and it is fedex ground that's showing the growth and not the fedex express. is that right? >> yeah, that's right. speaking of fedex ground, if you haven't used it by now, your gift is not getting there for christmas. stuart: maybe that's true. lauren, thank you very much indeed. fedex stock is up today.

got to make that point. now, we have sioux falls in south dakota, it has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. one reason why? no corporate income tax in that state, and get this, the city is run by a democrat. the mayor of sioux falls is next.

stuart: fairly soon, you the taxpayer will no longer own even a small part of general motors. the government is selling its

entire stake in gm. now, general motors itself is going to buy back 200 million shares, the treasury is going to sell another 300 million shares, at a price to be determined in the future. but gm's buying at 27.50, barely half of what's needed in the stock price to make taxpayers break even. by the time it is all done, the taxpayer will have lost roughly 7 billion dollars in the gm bailout, maybe more if you include gmac now known as ally financial. the stock by the way is up 27. facebook, good press, bad press. first the bad, instagram's privacy policy says it can sell your photos. people have gone crazy about that one. here's the good pr, zuckerberg is going to give away a half billion to charity. whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery.

stuart: sioux falls south dakota has no state corporate income tax. that makes sioux falls very business friendly. retail is also huge because it's the one stop between denver and minneapolis, not much else in between. and it is a hub for, get this, financial companies, like citigroup and capital one. the unemployment rate in sioux falls, 3.7%, in october. how about that. joining us now on the phone is the mayor of sioux falls. your honor, welcome to the program. i understand that you are a democrat. >> stuart, i am, yes, but that doesn't play much of a role as the mayor here.

stuart: okay. i've got that. but what is a democrat doing in a state which has no corporate income tax? i thought democrats were all in favor of taxing those corporations. >> well, this is one of those fiscally conservative democrats that's really trying to run government like a business and we've been very successful here in sioux falls. stuart: yes, you have, 3.7% unemployment. when we first came to you we thought this must be because of the energy boom, it must be because you are fracking or drilling for oil, but that's not the case. >> not even close. there are some good things happening in north dakota but we're a long ways away from that in sioux falls. i mean our town is exploding, but it is not because of oil. it is because of all the other professions that we have here in our town, and we've got main stays like financial services and healthcare and retail, and you talked about that, but also, you know, so much going on in

technology and research construction, blue-collar jobs, white-collar jobs and even those sales jobs, we're just going nuts right now. stuart: i bet you are used to people from new york or california kind of saying why, what, sioux falls, a center of technology and research and financial services? i bet you're used to that reaction, aren't you? >> well, stuart, we had that happen to us in the early 80s when citicorp. or citi bank moved their credit card operation to sioux falls. but once they did, they said oh my gosh we found gold. and then after citi bank came, we had wells fargo and then all these other companies came, and once they come to sioux falls or once they come to south dakota, they never leave. one thing, stuart, i was just going to mention, you know, profit is not a dirty word in the south dakota. stuart: you're a democrat. extraordinary. there is one problem which i

see, how do you attract -- how do you get bankers and high-tech people to go to south dakota with weather like you've got? because you've got weather, haven't you? >> we do. but i think that when you look at the opportunities, not only for yourself in business but also for your -- but also the opportunities for your family. we have a quality of life that is really really we believe second to none. yes, you do have to put up with some cold weather for two to three months. stuart: two to three months, oh, your honor, please, come on, it is six months of frigidity, is it not? >> not even close. we haveehad such dry weather the last two years, that i don't know, it is the real deal, we are getting warmer weather in sioux falls and in south dakota and we're enjoying it. stuart: climate change can be a plus, can it not?

i'm actually laughing because we have two ladies in the studio, and we keep our studios very cold, and both of them are shivering. but look, you are doing a great job there your honor. we appreciate you being on the show today with a major success story. we appreciate it. >> stuart, can i ask you one quick favor? stuart: yeah. >> i told our senator to go back to washington, d.c. and tell the folks there that hey, you know, quit complaining about no jobs here, no jobs there, we've got plenty of opportunity in sioux falls nd plenty of opportunity in south dakota. so if you're looking for a good quality of life and you're looking for a great job, come to sioux falls. we would love to have you. stuart: your honor, you are entitled to a commercial with a 3.7% unemployment rate. thank you very much for joining us, sir. >> thanks, stuart. make it a great day. stuart: yes, sir. big labor boss richard trumka, he's chartered the course on any fiscal cliff deal we will get, he laid out the

deal. my take on that is next.

>> the fact is they say they promise they won't touch social security. they paid lip service to that for 50 years stuart. the seniors are tired of it. they have been stealing out of the social security trust fund for 50 some years. stuart: yes they have. that was james martin head of the 60 plus organization on the social security cost of living adjustments for seniors. remember we start at 9:20 sharp each weekday morning to catch that kind of stuff. time for a market check. look at the big board, down 23 points, not that much movement, but we do have movement in oracle stock for a change. it's up again. i want to know why. lauren? >> it's up 3% stuart. hit an annual high a little bit earlier, that level 34.15. it's not too far from it right now. put out latest earnings and profits better than expected. they are also said their software sales were pretty strong, and that's good because all these worries about fiscal cliff, creating a lot of uncertainty out there, so that goes to show you that at least some businesses are still spending money, right, and adobe one of its competitors is up pretty nicely as well.

stuart: thanks very much indeed lauren. i want to get this in as fast as i can. we have got fitch the ratings agency making noises about america possibly being downgraded again because of the nature of this fiscal cliff deal that's being assembled as we speak. there's a headline coming across. i'm going to get more into it later. but the headline basically is watch out america. this deal could make you a downgrade candidate. we will get more on it later. even after an assassination attempt back in 81, president ronald reagan still supported the 2nd amendment. his son, mike reagan joins the company at 10:35. he explains why his dad stuck with gun rights after nearly dying in an assassination attempt. right after the election, the boss of big labor, richard trumka led a delegation of leftists into the white house.

afterwards he outlined the taxing and spending plans he wanted for the second obama term. that outline is indeed the basis for the fiscal cliff deal that is now taking shape. here's my take: it's a lousy deal. trumka said tax the rich. promise to cut spending. and ignore the debt. looks like that's exactly what we're going to get. the republicans have accepted higher tax rates, rightly or wrongly, speaker boehner has okayed tax the rich. that part of the trumka plan in place. as for spending, the president will not touch medicare or medicaid. he suggests a minuscule trimming of social security, and he wants 50 billion dollars worth of new spending for infrastructure. he's very much in line with trumka's thinking, on spending. and then there's the debt. the president wants a blank check to run it up as he pleases. no interference from congress with those pesky debt ceiling debates. no, he's following the trumka line again, ignore the trillions in new debt.

let the grand kids play for heaven's sake. in our desperation to avoid a crisis, we put it off and make it worse. tax the rich, avoid spending cuts, ignore the debt. that's what we're about to do. yes, it is a lousy deal. [ male announcer ] this is amy. amy likes to invest in the market. she also likes to ride her bike. she knows the potential for making or losing money can pop up anytime. that's why she trades with the leader in mobile trading. so she's always ready to take action, no matter how wily... or weird... or wonderfully the market's behaving... which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

a story we brought to you a moment ago. it is a clear warning from fitch, which is the ratings agency. it says the fiscal cliff is quote, the single biggest near term threat to the world economy, given its potential to tip the u.s. into an unnecessarily -- unnecessary and avoidable recession. it is warning of a downgrade if a deal doesn't get done. that is from fitch. joining us now from the chicago mercantile exchange, the cme is larry levin of trading advantage. larry, that's a warning, straightforward, clear cut, from fitch. if you go over that cliff, we're going to downgrade you, because you're going to have a recession. what do you make of it? >> well, it's interesting. i thought it would have made some selling come into the stock index that are trading behind me, stuart, really didn't do that. in fact it was actually almost unnoticed as far as the traders were concerned didn't have any movement in any direction. a little bit of a surprise. i thought we would have had a bit of a sell off.

but it is certainly going to put a lot -- more pressure than we already have on our politicians to get something done. stuart: i think you and are in an agreement, i think we both think we will get a deal, that will be tax the rich, promise to cut spending later, ignore the debt, we agree on this, i think? >> yeah, i think you are right. i think that's what will happen. they are running out of time and working on it every day. for the good of this country, we need some deal. even a bad deal is better than a no deal at all. stuart: i think it is a lousy deal. i think the market will act positively. stocks will go up. >> stock indexes will move higher. people want confidence and they want to have things answered, and the market likes that when that happens. i think you will see a decent rally. i don't think it will be as big as everybody thinks though because that's really kind of the opinion that everybody has, and when that's the case, you only get so much out of it. stuart: fair point. the dow is up 13,300, not a bad

level to be at. i think some of it is baked in the cake. larry levin, always a pleasure, thank you very much. even after an assassination attempt against reagan in 1981 that landed a bullet an inch from his heart, ten years later, he did support the brady bill named after his press secretary who was shot and paralyzed. that law requires a five-day waiting period to allow officials to complete a background check, personal background check on the person registering for a gun. joining us now, ronald reagan's son, mike reagan, who joins us as he often does. mike, welcome back to the program. now, i'm trying to get the sequence of events clear here. he remained a firm supporter of the 2nd amendment, but then got behind the brady bill, which put some restrictions on the ownership of handguns, is that an accurate statement of what your father did? >> yeah, you've got to put it in context. 1991, 10th anniversary of the

shooting that took place in 1981 on march 30th. 1991, for my dad, there was a nostalgic moment there, the fact that it was the 10th anniversary. and my father also at the same time, stuart, never forgot that day he looked out the window of that limousine as he pulled away from the hotel, the hilton hotel and he saw people laying in their own blood with bullets that were meant for him on that day. he always believed in the 2nd amendment to the constitution. as a young boy, i remember him buying me my first 22 single shot and then my lever action. i remember his semiautomatic rifle. we used to go out in the afternoon and shoot ground squirrels at the ranch. every saturday we visited the ranch. so he was always a firm believer in the 2nd amendment. he didn't have a problem with a waiting period, but he really would have a problem with taking away somebody's guns to be able to protect themselves or

whatever it might be. stuart: what was your reaction? i'm sure you remember the precise moment when you first heard that your father had been shot. did you have any kind of knee-jerk reaction, we've got to get these guns out of here, was that your reaction at the time? >> no, you know what i did. i went to the agent in charge of my secret service detail that day. i said to mike, i said how in the world -- actually i said how in the hell can you allow my father to be shot with all the secret service protection around him, what happened? he says to me, you know, mike, we can protect the president of the united states. we train 24/7 to do that, but one thing we'll never be able to train for, is to protect the president or you or anybody else against the crazies. and what happened on that day was the crazies came out. and remember, you have -- john hinckley got six shots off with a pistol before anybody stopped, four hit targets, two went

astray, but he was able to infact wounds into four people that were there that day -- in fact inflict wounds into four people that were there that day. again, you cannot stop the crazies. you have to understand these things happen in the world we live in today. and one of the other issues that's starting to come out if you are a parent and you have a child that's 18 years of age or older, there's really nothing out there to help you. you can't really do anything without a court order and they are tough to get as a court order to put your child away or put your child someplace because at 18 they are seen as an adult. stuart: there is also the issue of privacy between a person and their therapist, psychological therapist, if you will, what goes on in those meetings with a psychologist or psychiatrist, stays private unless you're making a threat against a specific person. it stays private. so there's not much that the police can do about it, even

though you may have made some pretty violent statements to your therapist because of the issue of privacy. i don't see how you legislate around that one, frankly. go. >> you can't. and again, i mean all this talk about now getting rid of assault weapons and what have you, you know, it seems to me that what we're debating is how many people are going to die. if we get rid of assault weapons, maybe we can stop 20 from being killed, but we'll accept 6 being killed with a handgun. i mean, the reality of it is we have to really have a national conversation, but everything has to be on the table, what's going on with the mental issues in the world that we live in today, and what are parents to do, where can a parent go. if your child has got problems, where can you go? there's no place to really go and help your child, and you take a child and have an intervention, have your child picked up and taken to utah or taken to some place where they deal with these issues, you want to make your child mad? have an intervention.

stuart: i'm going to end this with your reaction to the passing of robert bourke whom your father nominated to the supreme court but did not make it to the supreme court. he passed away today. your reaction please quickly mike? >> what a great mind, great man, should have been on the supreme court of our land. and my father should have gotten his way with that appointment. it would have been a great -- it was a great appointment. robert bork, great man. stuart: all right, mike reagan, thank you very much indeed mike. we will see you again soon. >> thank you. stuart: a california highway patrol chief made nearly a half million dollars in 2011. now while he gets a six figure pension, union defender phil dine is next.

stuart: the big drop in gas prices continues. right now we have an average gallon of regular down to $3.22 a gallon, off another penny overnight. missouri, the cheapest gas in the land at $2.96. oklahoma also below 3 bucks a gallon. the price of oil, that's been steadily rising. 88 -- i'm sorry, $89 a barrel as of right now. as for gold, flat today after that big drop yesterday. it's actually up 3 bucks at 1673. the dow industrials down 17 points. remember the dow had back-to-back 100 point gains the last couple of days. word this morning from fitch, the united states triple a rating could be at risk if there

is no deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. all right, everyone, we're back in 90 seconds with our union defender. his name is phil dine. what will he say about the california cop with that massive pension and the fight in michigan? [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. executor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and mel-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choo any car in t aisle...and go.

you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. [ ale announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go naonal. go like a pro. with fidelity's new options platform, we've completely integrated every step of the process, making it easier to try filters and strategies... to get a list of equity option.. evaluate them with our p&l calculator... and execute faster with our more intuitive trade ticket. i'm greg stevens and i helped create fidelity's options platform. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. stuart: the taxpayer is going to get out of general motors completely. the treasury is going to sell off the 500 million shares that we still have in the company. where is the stock, lauren? >> what a day for general motors, surging more than 7%, hit another annual high.

the last time it did that was february 17th. so we had another one just moments ago at 27.74. general motors doesn't want to be called government motors anymore obviously. so they're buying back 200 million of their shares at $27.50 from the treasury department and plans to get completely out of that position by -- over the next year and a half. stuart: so we cannot say government motors by mid 2014. okay, we've got it. >> that's about right. stuart: thank you very much lauren. now california highway patrol division chief jeff talbot retired last year. he made nearly a half million dollars total compensation in the year 2011. that included about a quarter million dollars for unused sick and vacation time. that's a lot of money. well, now he's retired but he gets a pension of more than $170,000 a year. here is phil dine. he is the author of the new updated version of state of the unions and phil is basically a union defender who appears on this program frequently.

phil, welcome back. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: the only -- the only support that you can give to this gentleman for his $174,000 a year pension, the only rationale for it is that he was promised it. and he therefore deserves it, according to his contract. that's it, isn't it? >> look, stuart, i'm not really going to argue with you on this. i think on the face of it, it seems outrageous. i will say, first of all, no other state pays its law enforcement people anywhere near what california does. and secondly, the average -- the starting wage for a highway patrolman in california 68,000 with a maximum of 84,000 dollars a year. i think that's reasonable. but this settlement is ridiculous. stuart: yeah, i mean, the reason we bring it up, and i'm not trying to get at you because you're a union defender, i'm not trying to do that, i'm simply saying look, california can't afford this. they have got to pay it. i understand that. they've got to pay it.

but by paying it means you've got to cut back elsewhere. a bigger class size for kids in schools, for example. less healthcare for poor people. you know, this kind of exorbitant pension has a cost in california. that's my point. >> i think that's overstated. you know, one fellow getting a very high payment when he leaves his job is ridiculous, but it is not going to affect a huge state like california in terms of schools or anything, but public relations wise, it is ridiculous, and again, i think this needs to be seen as an outlier. it is not typical. york for example, law enforcement can get no more 30 vacation days paid to them when they retire. stuart: that is the new rule because of abuses in the past. let me also point out that in new york state, the lady who ran the union for new york state, when she left the job to take the national position, she walked away with a check for

$194,000 of unused sick pay and vacation time at a time when they were laying off teachers in new york city because of a lack of money. that doesn't go down well. i don't know how you justify that. i really don't. >> well, again, you know, come on, there's contracts that both sides agreed to, and obviously there's some problems with some of the fine print or whatever. it needs to be fixed. the difference between you and me stuart aside from the fact that you have better hair is that i look at this stuff and my outrage is general, when i see working people get too high of packages, i'm up set when i see corporations -- upset when i see corporations -- corporate executives failing to lead their companies properly and walking away with 100 million dollars. i'm upset at both. you are only upset when it's workers are. stuart: that's not true. hold on a second, let me move on from this. how do you defend the violent actions and the extreme language

of union embers protesting the right to work law in michigan? our viewers are looking at a still shot where a union thug and i'm calling him that lands a punch in the face to someone who is defending right to work laws. now, go ahead, defend union thugs, please. >> i'm not going to defend union thugs, corporate thugs or any thugs, just like when you asked me about a year ago when in new jersey they were comparing governor christie to nazi germany i was said that was outrageous -- i said that was outrageo outrageous. this is one person or a couple of people. and typically the right is going to take this -- stuart: would like to know why there are no criminal charges being filed, no charges at all, so far. phil, i've got to cut it off because i'm out of time. phil dine, everyone. thank you very much indeed.

>> pleasure stuart. stuart: we will discuss time magazine's person of the year coming up. ♪

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stuart: time magazine has named president obama person of the year managing editor said this, for finding and forging a new majority, for turning weakness

into opportunity after seeking -- [inaudible]. runners up include apple chief tim cook and the president of egypt mohammed morsi. go. >> are you surprised? this is time magazine after all. but i will say, barack obama did have a huge accomplishment. he managed to get re-elected despite his horrific economic policy, so maybe that's why he should win person of the year. >> sarcasm, but i like it. ken solomon runs the tennis channel, he's one of those reportedly in line, the hollywood reporter lists people under consideration including the white house designer, a hollywood philanthropist, this is common practice amongst presidents rewarding those with ambasssdorships. >> big donors and big bundlers

usually get ambassadorships. this is not out of the ordinary. what is out of the ordinary is that obama doesn't do this around election time, he does this every single day of his administration. he rewards -- it's crony socialism, not crony capitalism. he rewards those who donate to him. stuart: friday december 21st some say the world will come to an end. varney & company will be on air. we will have a guest tomorrow who thinks the world will end friday. we will talk about it. the highlight reel is next. i always wait until the last minute.

can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery.